He was there. The point of no return. At least that's what Joe felt like as he stood in front of Mimi's door, wanting to ask her to the movies. To ring or not to ring, to ring or not to ring. That was his question.



"What will she say? What will she do?" Joe agonized as he stood there, nearly ready to turn back on the spot. "Please please please let her say yes! But what if she says no? What if she hates me? Ahhh! That would be the absolute worst thing to happen to me in my life!" That was it. Joe drew back his hand lingering over the doorbell, and nearly turned back.



But he couldn't. Not after finally getting the courage to at least walk to her apartment building. Even if she said no, he'd at least finally be able to tell Matt that he had taken his advice given to him a year ago, when Joe had realized that Mimi had become more than a friend and fellow digidestined to him...



"Go for it!" Matt, the boy who collected girls on a street corner, said. "Knowing Mimi, she'll probably love you for it."



Trouble was, how could he be sure that what Matt said was true?



"Go for it..." Gathering up his courage, Joe leaned on the doorbell with such force that the din caused him to jump back and yelp in surprise. Mimi, sure that there was an emergency considering how the caller forcefully pressed the bell, came to the door at a run.



"Joe!" Mimi looked at him in surprise. He had never come to see her alone before... "Come in!" What in the world could he have come for? Was he finally going to... but Mimi had no time to complete her thought. Joe was talking to her nervously.



"So I just thought that maybe, you know, if you have time, and if you have nothing else to do... come see a movie with me? I mean, if you want..." Now he was completely miserable. "Here it comes, she's going to say..."



"Of course I will!" Mimi, caught by surprise by this unexpected invitation, squealed and threw her arms around his neck. "I've been waiting for you to ask me for FOREVER!"



Joe's knees buckled with happiness. Fortunately, the force of Mimi's arms around his neck kept him from falling over.



~ ~



Mimi stood in front of her full-length mirror, assessing her appearance. Hair, face, clothes. Yes, everything was perfect! "Not that Joe will notice." She thought ruefully. "Knowing him, his brain will probably be millions of miles away in some medical book." Oh well. At least he had asked her.



At that moment, the doorbell rang, normally this time. Mimi calmly opened the door. "Joe..." she started to say, but cut off her sentence at the sight of the pink roses he nervously handed her. "That is so SWEET!" She looked at him ecstatically, stars in her eyes. "Nobody has ever given me ROSES when we were going to the MOVIES!"



"Ah, well..." Joe sweatdropped, a bit caught off guard by her rapturous reaction. "I thought you'd like them..." What was it that Matt had told him to say...?



"Always comment on her outfit. Girls love it when they think you're paying enough attention to them to notice what they're wearing."



"You look very pretty tonight. I like the way... ah... your shirt is tucked into your skirt." He finished lamely.



"Thank you." Mimi grinned at him, deciding to take his compliment for all it was worth. After all, JOE had given it to her...



Joe, relieved that everything had gone well so far, smiled back at her and held out his arm. "Shall we go?"



~ ~



Mimi and Joe settled into their seats at the movie theater, holding a large popcorn and two drinks between them. The movie started, but Joe wasn't aware of it at all. He looked at Mimi, who seemed to be absorbed in the movie. "I wonder what she's thinking of?" He thought. Little did he know...



"I wonder what he's thinking of?" Mimi thought. "Is he going to hold my hand, or just sit there the entire time? He probably is... it wouldn't be like him to do anything romantic. But the flowers were romantic." She smiled at the thought of them. "I would never have thought he'd think of something like that."



Joe was tired of staring mutely at the screen without ever seeing a thing on it. It was time to take some action! He closed his eyes tightly, and moved his hand slowly toward Mimi's... "I hope she doesn't mind, I hope she doesn't mind..." and grabbed hold. Pleased with himself, he opened his eyes... "You did it! That wasn't so bad..." and looked at Mimi. She gave a low "Ouch!" He blushed a bright red, and lessened his hold on her hand. There, that felt perfect.





~ ~



The movie was over. Joe had gone through the whole thing in a state of bliss, only aware of Mimi's hand in his. Then he blushed at the thought of what was supposed to come next. He knew that most people would kiss their date goodnight, but he felt he couldn't handle that. Not yet. Maybe next time...



Speaking of next time!



He smiled at Mimi. "Hey, maybe next weekend we could invite Gomamon and Palmon over for a picnic! What do you think?"



Mimi smiled back at him. "I think that would be perfect."



They traded goodnights, and as Joe turned to go, Mimi called back at him. "Hey, maybe next weekend you could give me a goodnight kiss!" Laughing at his red face, she closed the door. And that was the end of their first date.